The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents German language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
See German phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of German.
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|
| Vowels |
|---|
| IPA | Examples | English approximation |
| Monophthongs |
| a |
Dach | bra (but shorter) |
| aː |
Bahn | bra |
| eː |
Beet | face |
| ɛ |
Bett, hätte | bed |
| ɛː |
wähle[5] | as above but longer; like RP English bared |
| iː |
viel | meet |
| ɪ |
bist | sit |
| oː |
Boot | somewhat like bone |
| ɔ |
Post | hospitality |
| øː |
Öl | somewhat like hurl; French deux |
| œ |
göttlich | close to hurt or French sœur |
| uː |
Hut | true |
| ʊ |
Putz | took |
| yː |
Rübe | French rue |
| ʏ |
füllt | much like the above but shorter |
| Diphthongs |
| aɪ |
weit | tie |
| aʊ |
Haut | how |
| ɔʏ |
Heu, Räuber | boy |
| Reduced vowels |
| ɐ |
Ober[2] | fun |
| ə |
halte | comma (when pronounced without stress) |
| Semivowels |
| ɐ̯ |
Uhr[2] | comma |
| i̯ |
Studie | studio |
| u̯ |
aktuell | actual |
| Non-native vowels |
| e |
Methan | (short [eː]) |
| i |
vital | city (short [iː]) |
| o |
Moral | (short [oː]) |
| ø |
Ökonom | (short [øː]) |
| u |
kulant | (short [uː]) |
| y |
Psychologie | (short [yː]) |
|
|
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 The German lenis consonants [b d ɡ z ʒ dʒ] are often pronounced without voice as [b̥ d̥ ɡ̊ z̥ ʒ̊ d̥ʒ̊]. In Southern German, the voiceless pronunciation prevails.
- 1 2 3 Pronunciation of /r/ in German varies according to region and speaker. While older prescriptive pronunciation dictionaries allowed only [r], this pronunciation is nowadays found mainly in Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria, while in other regions the uvular pronunciation prevails, with the allophones [ʁ] and [ʀ]. In many regions except for Switzerland, the /r/ in the syllable coda is vocalized to [ɐ̯] after long vowels or after all vowels, and /ər/ is pronounced as [ɐ]
- ↑ /x/ is realized as a uvular fricative [χ] after /a/, /aː/, and often /ʊ/, /ɔ/, and /aʊ/.
- ↑ In many varieties of German except for Swiss Standard German, all initial vowels are preceded by [ʔ].
- ↑ [ɛː] is often replaced by [eː].
